1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having a function for browsing web pages, and to a method for printing web pages in the image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
It has become common to browse web pages using a terminal such as a personal computer, send the web pages to an image forming apparatus such as a printer or multi-function peripheral, and print the web pages. A conventional method for assisting operations for such printing of web pages has been proposed in JP 2006-285461A (called “Patent Document 1” hereinafter).
According to the method of Patent Document 1, the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) in the web server when printing an HTML page and the print parameter values of the web server designated by the HTML page are stored, and are then reused when printing that same HTML page, thereby eliminating the need for a user to remember those settings.
However, there are situations, such as the one described below, where a user who printed a web page also wishes to print web pages that are related to that original web page.
First, the user operates his/her own terminal, and searches for a web page s/he wishes to print. To be more specific, the user accesses a web site that provides a search service (known as a “search engine”) using a web browser installed in the terminal and designates a keyword thought to be related to the web page s/he wishes to print, thereby causing the search engine to execute a search process. The user then finds the hyperlink of a desired web page from among the search results and clicks on that hyperlink, thereby accessing the web page; the user then prints the web page using the image forming apparatus. The user then travels to the image forming apparatus to pick up the printed matter. However, there are cases where the user then wishes to print other web pages shown in the search results while at the image forming apparatus.
In such a case, it is necessary for the user to return to his/her terminal, find one of the other web pages from among the search results, access that other web page, print that other web page using the image forming apparatus, and then return to the image forming apparatus to pick up the printed matter once again.
If the image forming apparatus is located far away from the terminal, such operations are extremely cumbersome for the user. Of course, if the image forming apparatus is equipped with a web browser, it is conceivable that the image forming apparatus could be used to once again access the search engine, designate a keyword, perform a search, obtain the same search results, and print; however, the operational panel in an image forming apparatus has less operational flexibility than a terminal, and thus these operations are complicated for the user. Furthermore, if there were multiple designated keywords, or the keyword was complex, it is difficult to recreate the search conditions.